MLB 2025 Season

tempo_n_groove

F Me In The Brain said:

For me, the top 4 came easily to mind.

Pedro (the best I have seen in person whenever I talk baseball with friends...so much to have seen over the years in different versions of himself.). I could not stand him for many of those years but always respected his tremendous game.

Unit - awesome.  Remember seeing scary Randy in early days and that was more fun, really, than when he was a DBack or Yank.  Fight On, love that Randy threw to Jack del Rio at USC.

Maddux - the artist

Clemens - hated this cheater most of the time but saw him as early as mid 80s on up until his end.  Best memories were from the fourth row behind visitors dugout, where my old man had company box seats when I was growing up.  Sure, I rooted for the visiting team (every trip to Fenway) but I thought Clemens was a badass.

Last one.....after some thought, I feel great about this pick - Smoltz
To be as good as he was as a SP and then have three dominant years as a Closer....just phenomenal.
Remember one year when he was a closer watching him warm up in the visitors pen at Doyers Stadium.  The coolest part was listening to his fastball.  Dude brought a heavy ball to the party as a closer.

Clemens should be on my list over Kershaw perhaps.  He shouldn't be left off my list but I did...

I agree with all but Smoltz.  With your thinking though I could have put Eckersley up there too.  He was one of the best relievers I ever saw.  Maybe we do that one next?

Poncier

Pedro Martinez. Absolute domination from a small framed guy during his Red Sox career. Was fortunate to be at Fenway when he outdueled a sub 300 pound and in his prime Bartolo Colon 1-0 in 1998, both pitchers tossing complete games, something you just don't see any more. And the 1999 AS game when he starts the game striking out the first 4 batters and 5 of the first 6. Every 5th day was appointment viewing during Pedro's tenure here.

Roger Clemens. Struck out 20 batters in a game twice for the Red Sox prior to his presumed steroid fueled 2nd half of his career in Tor, NY and Hou. His 1986 season was as dominant a season of any pitcher in my lifetime.

Greg Maddux. A master at controlling the plate without overpowering stuff.

Randy Johnson. Would have hated to have been a lefty facing him where the ball seems to be being released about 3 feet from your head with that long reach.

Mariano Rivera. In this day and age when bullpens are so vital, nobody was ever better at the back end of the bullpen. Thankfully in October 2004 the Red Sox were able to get to him. Few others ever did.

F Me In The Brain

tempo_n_groove said:

F Me In The Brain said:

For me, the top 4 came easily to mind.

Pedro (the best I have seen in person whenever I talk baseball with friends...so much to have seen over the years in different versions of himself.). I could not stand him for many of those years but always respected his tremendous game.

Unit - awesome.  Remember seeing scary Randy in early days and that was more fun, really, than when he was a DBack or Yank.  Fight On, love that Randy threw to Jack del Rio at USC.

Maddux - the artist

Clemens - hated this cheater most of the time but saw him as early as mid 80s on up until his end.  Best memories were from the fourth row behind visitors dugout, where my old man had company box seats when I was growing up.  Sure, I rooted for the visiting team (every trip to Fenway) but I thought Clemens was a badass.

Last one.....after some thought, I feel great about this pick - Smoltz
To be as good as he was as a SP and then have three dominant years as a Closer....just phenomenal.
Remember one year when he was a closer watching him warm up in the visitors pen at Doyers Stadium.  The coolest part was listening to his fastball.  Dude brought a heavy ball to the party as a closer.

Clemens should be on my list over Kershaw perhaps.  He shouldn't be left off my list but I did...

I agree with all but Smoltz.  With your thinking though I could have put Eckersley up there too.  He was one of the best relievers I ever saw.  Maybe we do that one next?

We could split them.  I would say for him that he won 200+ games as a dominant starter and had a middle stint as a dominant reliever for three years due to injuries.
I only saw Eck as a RP but he has ridiculous stats too.  

Ledbetterman10

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

The Juggler

Ledbetterman10 said:

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

Did you post the photo twice for a more dramatic effect?

I agree--those numbers are surprising. Trout is a 5 tool player though, while Thomas obviously was not. 

F Me In The Brain

The Juggler said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

Did you post the photo twice for a more dramatic effect?

I agree--those numbers are surprising. Trout is a 5 tool player though, while Thomas obviously was not. 

Nugenix still has one tool working for big Frank

Ledbetterman10

The Juggler said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

Did you post the photo twice for a more dramatic effect?

I agree--those numbers are surprising. Trout is a 5 tool player though, while Thomas obviously was not. 

No i posted it twice because the mobile site sucks. Not that the desktop site is much better these days. 

tempo_n_groove

Ledbetterman10 said:

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

I've always said that Thomas was a beast.  He did 100BB, 100R, and 100 RBI for 8 years straight.  After 10 years, age 32,  Thomas started to fall off quite a bit, same as Pujols. So trout has an additional 5 years to get at the year of Thomas' fall off.  Let's see what happens.

Difference between Thomas and Trout that is clearly a difference is WAR.

Trout has almost the same WAR as Thomas' career!!!!  That is what makes Trout so much better than everybody else though.  His numbers are sick too.

Let's see what the next few years bring because I have mentioned before that Trout is merely getting warmed up and fully expect him to go into beast mode these next few years.  Also, no one else is remotely close to what Trout's numbers are.

You want to have fun?  Put Pujols, Trout, Thomas and Arod stats and make a spread sheet.  You'll be very interested to see the spreads in the stats.

EDIT: Put Bonds in there too.  First half then 2nd half of his career.

Poncier

F Me In The Brain said:

The Juggler said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

Did you post the photo twice for a more dramatic effect?

I agree--those numbers are surprising. Trout is a 5 tool player though, while Thomas obviously was not. 

Nugenix still has one tool working for big Frank

Indifference71

Ledbetterman10 said:

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

He was the best hitter of the 90s.  His numbers in the 94 season that got cut short would have been insane if the season didn't get cancelled.  Through 113 games, he was hitting .353 with a .487 OBP, 38 HR, 101 RBI and 109 walks.  487 OBP?!?!?  He was getting on base in half of his at bats....that's incredible.  And the White Sox were fucking awesome that year and think they had a great shot to win it all.....I remember being absolutely crushed as an 11 year old when the season got cancelled.  Horrible.

tempo_n_groove

Indifference71 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

He was the best hitter of the 90s.  His numbers in the 94 season that got cut short would have been insane if the season didn't get cancelled.  Through 113 games, he was hitting .353 with a .487 OBP, 38 HR, 101 RBI and 109 walks.  487 OBP?!?!?  He was getting on base in half of his at bats....that's incredible.  And the White Sox were fucking awesome that year and think they had a great shot to win it all.....I remember being absolutely crushed as an 11 year old when the season got cancelled.  Horrible.

In 94 both Thomas and Bagwell had CRAZY numbers.  Bagwell got hit by a pitch and went down but the season ended shortly after that.

Ledbetterman10

Add Griffey to the list of people that were having great years in '94. He had 40 homeruns in just 111 games. He might have gone on to break Maris' record.

xavier mcdaniel

watched the final four innings of Chinese League baseball online, the game ended on a walk-off homer in the 11th

mfc2006

F Me In The Brain said:

The Juggler said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Here’s some surprising numbers. I guess Thomas is even more underrated than I thought. Or maybe Trout isn’t quite the modern day Mickey Mantle people say he is...

Did you post the photo twice for a more dramatic effect?

I agree--those numbers are surprising. Trout is a 5 tool player though, while Thomas obviously was not. 

Nugenix still has one tool working for big Frank

LOL

tempo_n_groove

Ledbetterman10 said:

Add Griffey to the list of people that were having great years in '94. He had 40 homeruns in just 111 games. He might have gone on to break Maris' record.

Matt Williams had 43.  He had a chance too.

Ledbetterman10

tempo_n_groove said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Add Griffey to the list of people that were having great years in '94. He had 40 homeruns in just 111 games. He might have gone on to break Maris' record.

Matt Williams had 43.  He had a chance too.

Jesus, that's surprising. I know he had some really good years around that time. But damn. 

tempo_n_groove

Ledbetterman10 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Add Griffey to the list of people that were having great years in '94. He had 40 homeruns in just 111 games. He might have gone on to break Maris' record.

Matt Williams had 43.  He had a chance too.

Jesus, that's surprising. I know he had some really good years around that time. But damn. 

94 was the year that "shit got real". 

Bagwell could have won the triple crown and had a hell of a chance if 1, the season didn't end and 2, he didn't break his hand and 3, Tony Gwynn floated back down to earth, lol!

After 94 baseball started to get silly.  Following the 95 season McGwire didn't average less than 50 HR a year for the next 7 on average...

Ms. Haiku

I'm sad there is no baseball. It's my knitting season. Christmas 2020 starts with the first pitch. I was finally going to cheer on the teams of my heart (Yankees, Tigers, Cardinals) and ignore my home teams (Orioles, Nationals). Thank goodness for online radio programming

The Juggler

tempo_n_groove said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Add Griffey to the list of people that were having great years in '94. He had 40 homeruns in just 111 games. He might have gone on to break Maris' record.

Matt Williams had 43.  He had a chance too.

Jesus, that's surprising. I know he had some really good years around that time. But damn. 

94 was the year that "shit got real". 

Bagwell could have won the triple crown and had a hell of a chance if 1, the season didn't end and 2, he didn't break his hand and 3, Tony Gwynn floated back down to earth, lol!

After 94 baseball started to get silly.  Following the 95 season McGwire didn't average less than 50 HR a year for the next 7 on average...

By "real" you mean fake, right? Because of all the steroids?

xavier mcdaniel

Ms. Haiku said:

I'm sad there is no baseball. It's my knitting season. Christmas 2020 starts with the first pitch. I was finally going to cheer on the teams of my heart (Yankees, Tigers, Cardinals) and ignore my home teams (Orioles, Nationals). Thank goodness for online radio programming

This would have been a good time to ignore the Orioles, especially with how badly they played against the Yankees last season, though I'd love to see a long Yankees-Orioles game now.